Wondering ‘Round Willy-Nilly is a beautiful name for a walking technique. Well, they call these “movement techniques”, or “footworks” - but to hell with conventional notations, disregarding the name of classification of a sub-class of a family of techniques is probably the least of the offenses I have committed in the thousand of years of my demon life.
Where was I again? Right, the name. As I have said before, I used to create walking techniques when I was in the mood for art. Wondering ‘Round is also a favorite creation of mine. Among techniques of cultivators, it wouldn’t be considered the most practical or the most powerful – though it would garner considerable respect and quite a few admirers among cultivators for its elegant style and beautiful, from a visual point of view, form.
Also, when mastered to its theoretical limit, it would allow the user to teleport to random locations in their surroundings at will – a rare and precious skill indeed, though not even myself was able to reach that level of mastery. Mostly because I had better techniques at my disposal to waste time mastering than this one.
No, the intent and true purpose of this technique is to employ it when you feel burdened at heart and want to vent some of the bottled up emotions inside of you, when you want to feel some semblance of peace – and you go for a walk to admire the views to do that.
It lets you feel at ease, forget all the things that burden you and let your body wonder along with your mind.
Why did I recommend this technique to the mortal girl (what was her name again?)
“It was Tessa”, I felt the breeze gently caressing my cheek as the morning Sun was dispelling the mist and the air began to heat up.
“Are you seriously pretending that I am not there?”, yes it was rather windy, despite the fact that we were in an enclosed yard, a truly curious observation.
So, why did I recommend the technique to Tessa? The answer is simple, really. Firstly, I wanted to see, if for no other reason than idle curiosity, how a mortal would handle techniques that were originally meant for cultivators. Secondly, she seemed tense and burdened. She looked like someone with a story. One I didn’t feel like listening to, truth be told, but the fact stood strong anyway.
I wanted to see how the psychological effects of the footwork affect her. You see, the technique was originally designed for cultivators. In other words, it was designed for psychics – literally the kind of lifeforms that have an innate affinity for all kinds of mind manipulation to the point where they can communicate with the mind of the Universe itself.
Our feelings and emotions aren’t governed by hormones or bio-electrical signals in our brains, we are wired differently, which is why we can swap bodies like gloves or live without brains and other stunts that would not be possible for biological (also referred to as mortal or lowly) creatures. At the same time, at the beginnings of our lives we are remarkably similar to biological lifeforms in the way we function, so the similarities are not different enough to find the idea of trying it preposterous and time-wasting.
How would something that was designed for us affect somebody with a spirit much much weaker? Would it even work? The child in me was rubbing its tiny chubby hands in anticipation.
«Are you ready?», I directed the question to the barely-breathing mortal that was having a hard time supporting its- her body on two wobbly legs.
“Yes”, she could barely breathe, as I have mentioned, so the actual answer was something closer to “Huff… Ye-fff-shhh… huff...” but I reckoned nobody would want to deal with these communicational hindrances and, therefore, took the liberty of changing the delivered lines slightly.
“Good. Take a look at this”, I quickly ran to a tree nearby and snapped a branch right off of it, ran back and began drawing on the loose ground. In truth, I could draw things telekinetically without any problem and, if I took an extra effort, I could directly convey what I wanted into Tessa’s mind, but both ways would scare the poor thing too much, so excuse me for not following through.
“The most important part of any footwork starts not here”, I tapped my feet with the branch lightly, “but here”, I tapped my head with a hand this time as doing so with a branch seemed a bit too uncool.
“Your eyes, your nose and, most importantly, your brain. You use them first and then you use the rest of body. I’m sure they taught you to repeat the same exercise over and over until your body would be able to do those things even without these”, I tapped my head again, “but, things are different when it comes to the real good stuff”
“Your ability to teach is as atrocious as my ability is great”
“You are not her”
“Oh, I think I figured how to get you to talk to me now!”
«Disappear»
…
…
About two hours later, Tessa began somewhat getting a grasp on the ideas. Somewhat. Getting. A. Grasp.
“She’s just a mortal, what did you expect?”
Right. I might be overreacting just a teeny tiny bit. I used to be not as impatient. I guess… things... are just making me feel a sense of pointless urgency and this new, or rather, very very old, part-biological body is also affecting my judgment. Right, I should keep track of this. Things might just be a little on the troublesome side.
…
…
“Alright, that’s it for today”
“I’m sorry”
“It’s okay”
“Um… can you explain it tomorrow too?”
“… Okay”, I could practically feel the relief after I gave the okay in Tessa’s mind. Well, by practically I mean literally, psychic powers and all, but I’m certain that even a non-psychic creature with the ability to use empathy would be able to tell it too. She really wants to learn this, huh? But, alas, I can’t take this anymore.
I would go to sleep, but
“It was a fun time, right? *smile*”, I couldn’t exactly do that.
“So, when is the morsel congruence coming up?”
“Martial Conference?”
“Yes, that. I am suddenly in the mood to watch a show. In fact, any show would do. They have theaters in this city?”, this was an important question, as if I didn’t get to distract myself, I would vent on this city, which, in turn, would attract the martial artists and force me to retaliate and we would have to enjoy this back and forth until my one year vacation came to a close.
I am not that big on fighting and chasing and stuff and doing so for the entirety of my vacation seemed boring. Demonic cultivator Oalur Kang? He would be all for it. Not me though.
“Theaters? I don’t think they have them. Besides, isn’t a theater a place for rich people, nobles and the like to make connections? Are you a noble, Oalus?”, if you think about it, I am a kind of noble existence when compared to mortals, but I guess she is talking about a rank in the feudal hierarchy of her society rather than that.
“… No. Not really. I am just bored and want to kill some time”
“Well, you could go with us to watch the show tomorrow. As for today, how about we walk around the place? I think there was a restaurant nearby that sold great food”, I wasn’t not interested in food, as I practically had no need for such sustenance, but, “the rimmets there are delectable too”, I could not argue against that.
“Let’s go, then! Actually, wait, I’ll go get my money bag”
“Why did you leave the money? What if they stole it?”, then they would regret it. Whoopsie, accidentally noticed something I shouldn’t have. A demon is easily invited but not easily driven out.
“It’s my treat. Think of it as a thank you”
“Well then, allow me to rudely take you up on that offer!”
“It would be my pleasure. But please, do go lighter on my wallet. I didn’t take much with me this time”, Tessa said with a smile, but I could feel the shame and embarrassment in her mind. Is she poor but doesn’t want others to know about it, so she tried to laugh it off? Silly mortals with their silly pride.
“It’s at times like this that you actually use that empathy of yours”
“What do you mean “actually”? I use it all the time, it’s a good weapon for dealing with others without things actually getting violent”, Damn, I answered that again!
“It would be funny, if I didn’t know you were serious. You never change...”
“There’s nothing worth changing in me. I am the way I am”
“Yes. You are just the way you are… You know, I really enjoyed today. Thank you. Spending time like this still made me feel very fulfilled, despite you trying to ignore me most of the time”
“Should we go now?”
“Yes!”
“I know, deep inside you feel very lonely without her, that’s why you subconscious allowed me to exist, but I hope, I audaciously dare to ask you, ask that you will find something… or someone… to fill that emptiness. There are many people who care about you. Your Master, your brothers and sisters, even me. We love you and we cherish you, so, please, don’t give up-”
“I am sorry for taking up so much of your time today and I am really grateful for teaching me”, Tessa bowed slightly and the… it… puffed its cheeks and harrumphed, upset that her- its- her… well... the speech got interrupted.
I hate to admit but it looked just as adorable as I remembered it to look… She would do that gesture of displeasure whenever I didn’t pay attention to her when she wanted something… Damn, get it together, you little biological brain! Don’t go sentimental. This is not her.
“It’s… fine. If I didn’t want to teach you I wouldn’t. No need to worry”, right. Focus on the mortal. Focus on the mortal. Focus, damn it.
“No, you don’t know just how much it means to me. You see...”, oh nonono, I think I know where this is going, “you see, when I was young-”, not the STORYTELLING! Please… just no…
“My family was”, oh, I have seen - “and caused” - ”shut it” - so many scenarios like this I am fed up with them! Lemme guess? Murdered by some evildoers? “Murdered by a group of demonic practitioners”, but you survived and decided to get vengeance, but didn’t have enough power, so you became a martial artist with the goal of eventually getting justice for yourself? “They… they didn’t spare anyone. My mother had to hide me among in the cellar and attract their attention away, so that I… I am sorry. This came out of nowhere”, yes, “I am sorry if I soured your mood”, it’s okay, this dose of annoying boredom was just right to get me out of the slump of sentimentality, thank you. Please recall the tragic deaths of your parents and everyone you even cared about as many times as you want
“Not a problem. We all have such moments of weaknesses. How about we go and eat some rimmets? They really do help”
“Yeah, let’s go”
…
As a side note, the rimmets were delicious. I will go and buy a few (dozen) tomorrow. Tessa got sentimental so she got a bit drunk, or something. I haven’t interacted with biological beings for centuries, so I am not sure if “drunk” is the right word to describe her state. I was contemplating about getting a slightly alcoholic beverage but then, after they rejected my request on the grounds of my youth, I remembered that it wouldn’t work on me anyway.
Then we came back, I went to my room and stared at the ceiling until the other two mortals came. Their names were… Miv and Helq.
Right. So, Miv and Helq went to get the tickets for tomorrow’s show and they even got one for me, which was quite nice. They talked about what and who they saw, excitedly, though to me most of the things they said didn’t make any sense. Still, listening to them alleviated some boredom off of my mind and, after listening to what felt like two hours of their excited chatter, I managed to fall asleep.
